Waterbury evening Democrat., 1887-12-08
THURSDAY. DECEMBER 8, 1887.
A COLUMN TO CLEVELAND.

A COLUMN TO CLEVELAND.
 Not in pillar of stone, nor in monumen- tai brass, nor yet in extravagant entabla lures of praise which only tell at best how much humanity needs to..save name from oblivion; but in the heart home thoughts of the people are the tributes accorded to his statesmanship by this great nation-for party antagonist and professedpolitical ad- herent have alike acknowledged the wis dom and justice, the greatness and the grandeur of the unexampled step forward in the science of government taken by President Cleveland on Tuesday Indeed, our Democratic ruler has built his own col umn for all time and may we'll indulge in the self-approval: ''Exegi Monumentum Are Perennius"
 Yes, but there is monument higher still; the disapproval of the old-time en- emy of the people. No stronger testimony could be given to the worth, in popular view, of the Presidents comprehensive statesmanship than the utterances of fear and the yells of rage of the party which had been taught to look upon all states manship as @ mere subservient servitor to the interests of monopolists. It would not be edifying even if necessary to review the abuses of the Grant administration, perpet- uated and practiced in degree through suc- cessive governments, until the happy hour came when public opinion asserted itself in the restoration of Democratic power It would serve no practical purpose to re- hearse how cabinets became the tools of capitalists; how the masses were oppressed in order that monopolists might grow rich; how the principle of legitimate protection of the interests of our citizens was pushed simply to a plumber of the poor mans wage and the comforts of his home and family; how at election times, Manufactur- CTS emboldened by the patronage of Re publican misgovernment, held the threat of the consequences of Free Trade over their unhappy slaves; and when elections labor at the smallest amount of pay, and then left, with insufficient resources, the workmen to purchase for the needs of himself and family at prices that only pro- tected his grinding taskmaster. No need to tell how franchises the property of the people, were voted away without compen- sating good to the owners-how the public lands were traded off without considera- ton of the public claims-how in every form that presented itself and in tIof Io ,1 corruption was at the beck of individual avarice. But in no phase or form of ad- ministrative injustice was more wrong done, or more unhappiness created, than in the system which shut our ports to the raw material of foreign lands, end by impests which the results would not bear, prevent ing, rather than promoting American in- dustry, and forcing the workmen as 8 con- sequence, to limit himself and household in necessary comforts, because he could not pay the penal price of one hundred per cent. in excess of the cost for which they might be had if the powers that were had not protected them to their own pow erty.
 
 programme of reform. Republican organs the most pronounced have given the most unqualified commendation Praise from Sir Hubert is praise, indeed, and when a foremost man in the ranks of the party like Medell of Chicago speaks out his praise in no uncertain tones, what heed need we give to the writhings or writings of the small fry-or the large fry that will swim in..t the old current, no matter for the purer waters in sight. Everywhere, at home and abroad, the weight of public opinion and popular sentiment is with the message It inaugurates new era in our government, the era of common sense as against party prejudice. It is a worthy continuation of the great-mindedness that triumphed over party claims and prospects in the concep- tion of the Civil Service Reform; and it is proud thing for Democracy that these re- forms were propounded by Democratic President elected by a Democratic people, There is no such record in the quarter cen tury misrule of the other side. Cleveland s Civil Service and Tariff pronouncements are worthy to stand side by side with Lin coln's Emancipation of the African; but then you see Lincoln was not Republican |; although the party have siezed upon his name as the prototype of their principles. Lincoln was Democrat if names are to be founded on principles. His principle took human beings out of the category of chat tel goods to be sold in the market place and slashed at the owners caprice Cleve- land, the Democrat, by one course of ac- tion, surmounted party antagonism and proved himself the wise governor of a whole nation; and by the later demonstra- tion would emancipate labor from the un- just shackles placed upon it by the greed of selfish and pretended protectionists. The nation has approved. Now for the formal assent of the nations representa- tives, giving force and effect in practice to the propositions of the Nations Chief. This, indeed, would be the Column for Cleveland.